System and Method for Merging Enhanced Vision Data with a Synthetic Vision Data

1. A method of providing merged video content from two independent video sources via a processor located onboard an aircraft, comprising: receiving an enhanced frame associated with an enhanced vision video from an enhanced vision system; receiving a synthetic frame associated with a synthetic vision video from a synthetic vision system; analyzing the enhanced frame to detect objects according to a first algorithm by receiving a set of pixels from the enhanced frame and determining whether the set of pixels correspond to a detected default frame segment of the synthetic frame, wherein the first algorithm is an object detection algorithm based upon an intensity difference threshold, the intensity difference threshold based on a minimum and a maximum intensity detected in the enhanced frame, and wherein analyzing the enhanced frame comprises altering the object detection algorithm to prevent the object detection algorithm from analyzing the set of pixels in response to the set of pixels corresponding with the detected default frame segment of the synthetic frame, and wherein the object detection algorithm is further altered to lower the intensity difference threshold to increase the presence of detected objects in the enhanced frame after the aircraft has taken off and before the aircraft has landed in response to the aircraft entering a landing phase of flight; analyzing the synthetic frame to provide the at least one detected default frame segment; selecting the detected objects from the enhanced frame and an enhanced frame segment from the enhanced frame corresponding to the detected default frame segment from the synthetic frame; providing the selected detected objects and the enhanced frame segment to a merged frame, wherein the merged frame comprises the detected objects, the enhanced frame segment, and the synthetic frame without the detected default segment; displaying the merged frame on a display, wherein the merged frame is provided as a single image representing the detected objects, the enhanced frame segment and the synthetic frame without the detected default segment correlated in the single image by position.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detected objects in the enhanced frame are analyzed by using an edge-detection method to analyze pixels in the detected object.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a chroma keying technique is used in generating the synthetic frame and further wherein chroma key values are used to determine the content of segments in the merged frame.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the merged frame includes segments from the enhanced frame in a continuous and predetermined region around the location of a flight path symbol.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the edge detection method does not analyze segments of the enhanced frame that correspond to the detected default frame segments.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the edge-detection method comprises: determining if a minimum pixel intensity in the set of pixel values is before a maximum pixel intensity in the set of pixel values from left to right to determine a leading edge.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the set of pixels are consecutive pixels in contained in a row and after the edge detection method has been performed on a selected set of pixels, a new set of pixels are selected by shifting over to the next pixel according to a predetermined shift order.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: determining if the maximum pixel intensity is before the minimum pixel intensity from left to right to determine a trailing edge; setting a flag at a leading edge of the pixels of the detected object; and clearing the flag at a trailing edge of the pixels of the detected object.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enhanced vision video is video of external scene topography collected by at least one imaging sensor including an infrared camera.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synthetic vision video is a computer generated video derived from a database stored in memory wherein the database includes information associated with terrain and runways.

11. An apparatus for providing merged video content from two independent video sources, the apparatus comprising: an enhanced vision system including at least a first sensor configured to detect enhanced vision video; and a synthetic vision system including a graphics generator configured to generate a computer generated synthetic vision video, wherein at least one processing device onboard an aircraft is configured to: receive enhanced vision video from the enhanced vision system and synthetic vision video from the synthetic vision system; select an enhanced frame in the enhanced vision video; select a synthetic frame from the synthetic vision video corresponding to the selected enhanced frame; detect the presence of at least one default frame segment in the synthetic frame; detect the presence of detected objects in the enhanced frame using an object detection algorithm, wherein the object detection algorithm prevents the object detection algorithm from analyzing a set of pixels from the enhanced frame in response to determining that the set of pixels correspond with the at least one detected default frame segment in the synthetic frame, and wherein the object detection algorithm is configured to automatically alter a parameter during a landing phase of flight or a takeoff phase of flight of the aircraft to cause the presence of detected objects in the enhanced frame to increase; and merge the enhanced frame with the synthetic frame to provide a merged frame comparing the detected objects in the enhanced frame and an enhanced frame segment from the enhanced frame corresponding to the detected default frame segment from the synthetic frame, wherein the merged frame represents a single image representing the detected objects, the enhanced frame segment and the synthetic frame without the detected default segment in a merged position correlated format.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the detected objects in the enhanced frame are analyzed using an edge-detection method to analyze pixels in the enhanced frame, and wherein the detected default frame segment is detected using a flag in a database.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a chroma keying technique is used in generating the synthetic frame and further wherein chroma key values are used to determine the content of default frame segments in the merged frame.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the merged frame includes segments from the enhanced frame in a predetermined region around the location of a flight path symbol.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the detected objects are detected using an edge detection method and the edge detection method does not analyze portions of the enhanced frame that correspond to the detected default frame segment.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the edge-detection method comprises: determining a leading edge presence if a maximum pixel intensity is after a minimum pixel intensity in a left to right orientation.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the set of pixels are consecutive pixels contained in a row and after the edge detection method has been performed on a selected set of pixels, a new set of pixels are selected by shifting over to the next pixel according to a predetermined shift order.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising: setting a flag at a leading edge of the pixels of the detected object; and clearing the flag at a trailing edge of the pixels of the detected object.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the enhanced vision video is video of external scene topography collected by at least one imaging sensor including an infrared camera and the synthetic vision video is a computer generated video derived from a database stored in memory wherein the database includes information associated with terrain and runways.

20. An apparatus for providing a video merged from an enhanced vision system including at least a first forward looking sensor mounted externally to an aircraft configured to detect enhanced vision video, and a synthetic vision system including a graphics generator configured to generate a computer generated synthetic vision video, the apparatus comprising: a processing device configured to: receive enhanced vision video from the enhanced vision system and synthetic vision video from the synthetic vision system; select an enhanced frame in the enhanced vision video; select a synthetic frame from the synthetic vision video corresponding to the selected enhanced frame; detect the presence of at least one default frame segment in the synthetic frame; detect the presence of detected objects in the enhanced frame using an object detection algorithm, wherein the object detection algorithm is based on an intensity difference threshold, the intensity difference threshold based on a minimum and a maximum intensity detected in the enhanced frame, wherein the object detection algorithm is altered to prevent the object detection algorithm from analyzing a set of pixels from the enhanced frame in response to the set of pixels corresponding with the at least one detected default frame segment in the synthetic frame, and wherein the object detection algorithm is further altered to lower the intensity difference threshold during a landing phase of flight of an aircraft to increase the presence of detected objects in the enhanced frame; and merge the enhanced frame with the synthetic frame to provide a merged frame comprising the detected objects in the enhanced frame and an enhanced frame segment corresponding to the default frame segment detected in the synthetic frame, wherein the merged frame represents a single image representing the detected objects, the enhanced frame segment and the synthetic frame without the detected default segment in a merged position correlated format.